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Kevin Rose Moves on from Silicon Valley to Watches
- rehtona 11y ago$3.6 million in VC funding for a news site about wrist-watches? I wonder what that pitch was, it must have been good.
- kozukumi 11y agoIndeed it is a big chunk of change. How much is Kevin worth these days? Wonder how much is his own money?
- kriro 11y ago""" Hi, I co-founded Digg and I like watches. Money please. """ Should be sufficient.
- aaggarwal 11y agoAre VC's so desperate?
- Touche 11y agoThe company they are merging with are the ones that have raised the money.
- jbigelow76 11y agoDigg raised 39 MILLION dollars in VC funding and exited with a 500 THOUSAND dollar sale to Betaworks. I get that SV operates in it's own odd ball reality of what defines success and that's what makes it annoying to outsiders knowing that you are probably correct.
- randall 11y agoHe was an angel in twitter, and a bunch of other early startups. Creates a tightly connected network.
- minimaxir 11y agoRose also worked for Google Ventures, so he has connections. He moved to Google after his startup Oink/Milk crashed and burned, of course.
- jbigelow76 11y agoConnections seem to be all that matters. In the show "Silicon Valley" they even made a joke about how Rose had to fail at a bunch of stuff before he could "succeed" with Digg, and then subsequently failed at a bunch of other stuff afterward as well.
- brobinson 11y agoIt was also allegedly in "final talks" to be acquired by Google for 200mm at one point according to insiders.
- smtddr 11y agoDigg was fantastic. It just committed suicide with Digg version 4 - http://searchengineland.com/digg-v4-how-to-successfully-kill-a-community-50450 http://searchengineland.com/digg-v4-how-to-successfully-kill... A bunch of people, including me, just kept commenting "Roll back!!!" But for some reason that's beyond my understanding, they said they could not rollback the upgrade. And that was the end. That said, I actually still use Digg in its current form today because I find it very useful. I just wish it had the on-site comments, but I understand the moderation nightmare task they'd be taking on if they enabled comments like the old Digg.
- ticksoft 11y agoAt some point those vote-driven-websites are expected to mature and turn into proper publishing businesses. Anything that's driven by users rather than vetted and sanitised by trusted writers/editors, will scare lucrative brand based advertisers. Just look at Google Adsense's content rules to see how much advertising shapes the web's content. I think that's what happened with Digg. I speculate that something similar is happening with Reddit but at a much slower rate - like closing undesirable sub-reddits etc.
- stevesearer 11y agoPeople also forget that Digg invented (or at least popularized) the iframe buttons now ubiquitous around the internet used by facebook, twitter, etc.
- frik 11y agoDigg almost killed Slashdot. Digg then killed itself with v4 and we were left with a less polished alternative Reddit. Reddit has been overrun by 4chan/mainstream. For some years, HN is the new /. with the most insightful comments. Though, I miss the comfort functions of the old /. comment system like collapsing threads (and tags like funny/insightful/etc).
- mbreese 11y agoIt would be nice to be able to tag things as "Funny" or "Insightful". Instead we're left with arbitrarily penalizing funny things.
- nols 11y agoThe Digg brand sold for $500K, other parts (staff and patents) went for $16 million. http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/12/digg-sold-to-linkedin-and-the-washington-post-and-betaworks/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/12/digg-sold-to-linkedin-and-t...
- jbigelow76 11y agoGranted, but even at 16 million it wasn't a positive exit. I know, and many others have pointed out, that Rose has a great network and knack for picking who to invest in. So going back to the original post I replied to that said "I co-founded Digg, give me money" is ironically the worst credential he could offer up.
- mpdehaan2 11y agoPerhaps he's making a billboard for the 101 out of blingy diamond-encrusted Hublot bezels.
- alaskamiller 11y ago"I once hosted a show about tech on TV, parlayed that position to popularize a website I paid someone $300 to make, used my notoriety from that site to make friends in high places and invest in their startups, then spun up a studio with my designer friend to publish various coolio ideas in my head though they didn't get as big as my first hit but Google wanted to acquihire us so I went along with it cause, hey, Google!, but then honestly I was bored working on products so I convinced them to let me invest in more startups, now I'm fascinated with expensive watches Jay-Z raps about and figured it won't be a bad way to live so... money in my hand, please."
- yesimahuman 11y agoI don't know the space, but my first guess is it's a market for people with money to spend on luxury items that hasn't seen "disruption" yet. I can see why someone would take a shot at it.
- at-fates-hands 11y agoI've had a few friends who were really into watches, and not like the high end bling bling type either. They reminded me a lot of people I know who are really passionate about computer hardware. They knew everything about certain brands and their lines, their inner workings, how to fix them, how to get really obscure parts for the them, everything. And they wanted to share their information and talk to other knowledgeable people as well. It's a pretty vibrant and interesting community. I'm not surprised he chose to get involved in the industry.
- niix 11y agoI recently got into watches and have been following the company they merged for a the past year or so. It's been an awesome resource for learning about the community and the craftsmanship behind mechanical watches. I recommend them to anyone who has an interest in watches, or just wants to see what the fuss is all about. You're right about the passion relating to that of computer hardware. The first thing that really intrigued me about watches is the amount of craftsman ship and engineering that goes into making a complicated mechanical watch. As a software engineer, I find similarities in the watch engineering world - so I believe thats why it pulled me in so easily. It truly is an amazing example of human engineering at its best.
- cookiecaper 11y agoCheck out this snippet from an episode of Shark Tank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RoyiKyLmI&t=18m40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RoyiKyLmI&t=18m40s It perfectly personifies the idiocy of SV VCs. The kid comes out in a hoodie with the typical college startup story: "changing the world from our dorm room". He has an app called Scan, a barcode scanner, that makes virtually no money and has already garnered almost $10 million in funding. When the Sharks are skeptical, he lays down the most stereotypical tech kid answer ever: "I have some interviews with investors that look at numbers to make a decision and they miss the boat, and then I have investors who look at me to make the decision." This is supposed to sound noble but it just reveals that SV is so full of idiots afraid that they're going to miss the next Facebook that anyone who comes to them and looks like an apathetic college kid and talks about dorm rooms can get $10 million on completely silly business concepts. The same applies to Rose. The numbers don't matter, it's about having the visage of a trendy tech whiz. This is apparently enough to convince SV investors to part with tens of millions of dollars. I don't know why I'm not out there trying to cash in on that.
- goeric 11y agoThat silly business concept you're referring is Scan.me, and it got acquired by Snapchat for $50M. That provided the base for what is now Snapcodes, which are extremely popular by Snapchat users.
- cookiecaper 11y agoYes, Snapchat surely couldn't have figured out QR codes without that acquisition. If one lumbering, futureless behemoth of the tech industry eats another, what do we end up with? Investors goading other pieces of their portfolio to "acquire" their and/or each others' dying companies is fairly common. In a serious tone, thanks for letting me know. I didn't know what had happened to them.
- ryanSrich 11y agoIf you're Kevin Rose you don't have to pitch. Investors literally throw money at you.
- superplussed 11y agoAt this point I'm sure he's done well enough as an angel investor and with Google Ventures that he doesn't have to do the whole founder thing any longer. So I respect that he tries these little projects and then gravitates toward what users respond to. It's a nice counterbalance to the obligatory "we must be changing the world" emptiness that is so often spouted. Some people just want to work on cool projects with people they like. That's OK.
- pm 11y agoI've always felt that Kevin Rose was the Damien Lindelof of Silicon Valley. Not that I know what it's like to be either, but I feel like everything they do ends up getting finished by someone else.
- dylanjermiah 11y ago"1.3 million app sessions" Does sessions = how many times the app has been opened?
- dawson 11y agoYes.
- meesterdude 11y agoAlways had mixed feelings about kevin; i liked digg, back in the day, before they mucked it up. And thebroken was pretty cool too, i definitely enjoyed that. Otherwise... not much worthwhile. He always came off more as a personality than as a actual entrepreneur. But it's easy for me to judge up here on my mighty throne. He's doing what he wants to do, making money doing it, and overall seems to be doing well. I could learn a thing or two.
- mladenkovacevic 11y agoMost people would be lucky to be involved in creating a single thing that a large user-base enjoys and supports. You just listed 2 things. Depending on how instrumental he was in the projects he's been involved with, I'd say his track record is ok. Creating a brand around your personality and then cashing in on that brand by investing in other cool projects is just an added bonus.
- baldfat 11y agoKevin Rose is a god when you look at the products he was an early investor in. https://angel.co/kevin https://angel.co/kevin SimpleGeo, Facebook, Gowalla, Formspring, Yobongo, BufferBox, LE TOTE, Cluster, Wealthfront, Foodzie, The Social+Capital Partnership, Buttercoin, AngelList, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, FOBO, Clever, Fab.com, Tasty Labs, Cozy, Dailybooth, Foursquare, Digg, Nextdoor, Treehouse, 19 more...
- tlrobinson 11y agoNot sure I'd include Fab or Digg (among others) on that list...
- mikeryan 11y agoIf he was an angel in Fab he might have easily gotten a pretty good multiple on his investment if he took money off the table in early VC rounds. I have no inside knowledge on this but I'd assume Digg is where he got the funds to make all these investments.
- JustSomeNobody 11y agoKevin Rose seems to be very good at maintaining his "brand" as well as monetizing short term niches. Most things he's involved in don't seem to last much longer. Not saying there's anything wrong with that, he's certainly been successful in that regards. It just seems he doesn't (or doesn't want to) see further than that. I certainly admire his seeming willingness/fearlessness to jump into new things. I imagine if I had that same willingness/fearlessness, I'd be more successful.
- TheDom 11y agoKevin's Medium post regarding that subject: https://medium.com/@kevinrose/hodinkee-watchville-join-forces-131f556f2d42 https://medium.com/@kevinrose/hodinkee-watchville-join-force...
- TaylorGood 11y agoIf Hodinkee is the rising juggernaut of modern horologists, Kevin has one shot to solidify this as newly appointed CEO. I'm excited for him.
- bluthru 11y agoIt seems like the Kevin Rose of 5 or so years ago would have been excited to work on watch apps. The Kevin Rose of today is excited about fetishizing archaic jewelry. It makes me sad because he's shown time and time again that he's full of good ideas, but he got sucked in to an "expensive niché market". Lusting over watches isn't really a problem that needs solving.
- Shivetya 11y agowell its likely that interest in smart watches might lead people to getting into "archaic" watches as many as much art as function. it is a problem to those involved in the collecting, selling, and trading, of watches. the issue here is that you may not see it as worthwhile market but there those who do and considering the sums involve niche markets like this could very well be profitable. the surest way to not succeed is to close doors before you go through them. there are many areas where small markets exist that are just waiting to be served. establish a model that works at this size and expand outward. everyone's first hit cannot be facebook sized and some never will have such a hit but you can create success and personal satisfaction if you set goals and reach them, just don't set goals where your comparing yourself to others achievements.
- bluthru 11y agoI'm not questioning its profitability. I'm questioning its societal usefulness. Smart watches will help with health, safety, communication, logistics, etc. Old mechanical watches were innovative feats of craftsmanship and engineering of their time. We should carry on that tradition instead of staying in the past.
- k-mcgrady 11y agoAnd Diggnation, Oink, and Tiny were useful to society? Not everything people in tech do has to help society. In fact, despite what startup founders claim, very little of what they do will have any lasting impact. He's doing something he's interested in. Why should it matter if it benefits society?
- ojbyrne 11y agoDoes "Hodinkee" strike anyone else as a stupid name?
- T3RMINATED 11y agoi think its terrible.
- k-mcgrady 11y agoQ. Where does the name Hodinkee come from? A. I Googled “wristwatch” in about 25 different languages and picked the goofiest. Hodinkee is derived from a Czech word, “hodinky,” which means wristwatch. It’s a silly name, but it works because we’re talking about incredibly expensive things that could be perceived as highly pretentious. It really cuts us down to size and says, “It’s just watches.” Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/fashion/hodinkee-watch-cheerleader.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/fashion/hodinkee-watch-che...
- joedavison 11y agoYes. Yes it does.
- mpg33 11y agoInteresting. How easy it to successfully monetize these niche markets? I mean 30 years ago this just would have been the equivalent of a watch magazine. Now it's an app/news site. But at least the magazine had people paying for copies and subscribers to keep them afloat. No one on the internet wants to pay anything.
- k-mcgrady 11y agoI think people are fine paying for niche things because otherwise they wouldn't exist. Plus with niches the people are generally enthusiasts and spend money in the space anyway so spending an extra few bucks for information they want and can't reliably get elsewhere isn't a big deal.
- brento 11y agoI kept on checking to see if I was on The Onion or ClickHole while reading that article.
- Sundog 11y agoKevin has come across publicly as a bit of a brat, but when he asked his friends to leave their jobs and join Milk, he promised them a certain return, even if it flopped and had to give them his own money. I've always respected that.